Cabo San Lucas

Solmar V, July 1997, S. Tiemann, Austin, TX. Crew was friendly and willing to please. Food was wonderful and I had more than enough to eat though I prefer low fat and vegetarian. Much of it had a Mexican flare and not so TexMex to burn you out. Lots of small organisms and large schools of fish everywhere. Water: 80 degrees. Vis: 40-80 feet. Large hammerheads school was a thrill as was the sea lion colony. Some blue water drifts were boring but we only did a couple. I saw more morays and grass eels than any where else I've ever been. The boat moves at night and the diesel engines roar, so if you're not accustomed to white noise it's hard to sleep the first couple of nights. (Sleeping with a fan on a while before you go should help). After you leave the ship you miss the engine and the sway. Had a great time. (Ph: 800-344-3349 (US) or 310-459-9861, Fax: 310-454-1686)

Solmar V, October 1997, Paul Anest, Prairie Grove, IL. Exceptional trip. Solmar V comfortable, the crew helpful, polite and friendly. Diving out of this world. Schools of hammerheads twice. Went to Los Islotes, dove with the sea lions for about 5 hours, they were great. Saw a manta measuring 18 ft across at Las Animas. So many green eels we lost count after 20. Vis: 45-70 ft. Water: 87-89 degrees. Diving restrictions: 130 ft. and 3 min. deco stop. Weather was great. We missed both hurricanes.

Solmar V/Amigos Del Mar, January 1998, Steve Bergerson, Lisle, IL. Snug cabins, but a great boat. Outstanding dive deck. Outstanding crew. Allowed to dive personal computers. Challenging diving. Strong surges (up to 30 ft.). Modest currents. Vis: 40-80 ft. Water: 77-80 degrees. Restriction: 130 ft. depth. Mantas on most dives. One day incredible interaction through five dives with from 5 to 14 mantas. Divemaster Scott Sundby a real expert on mantas, offers special PADI certification, Manta Ray Awarness Diver.

Solmar V, January 1998, David Leonard, New York, NY. I run an annual dive charity event known as StarDive, for which we chartered the Solmar. It's a well-appointed and solidly-built ship, with an accommodating crew. Solmar's side-to-side rocking action can be bothersome. Dramamine and Scop patches were widely used. Main diesel engine sets up a vibration that tears through this ship with a nerve-rattling grind times a minute-every minute! Bring Valium. Passengers in the stern cabins-401-404-were most affected. Cabins were clean, the beds comfortable, the water pressure great, ample stowage, and mine even had a fridge, TV/VCR in every room-wired to the main VCR in the salon, so you could share what everyone else was watching in the privacy of your own room. Salon/lounge/dining room is gorgeous. No single area on this ship where everyone can gather, hence, we were forced into small groups of three or four, which splinter the larger group. Dive deck is well laid out, with a fair amount of room. Camera table is a bit cramped. Marco prepared excellent meals accommodating our requests for low fat and fresh fish. Crew caught fish that ended as sashimi and grilled entrees. Quesadillas, frijoles refritos, chimichangas-and the best guacamole on which I've ever gorged myself-appeared during lunch and afternoon snacks. Divemasters excellent: genuinely concerned for the welfare of divers and fish alike. Constant, unwavering, and often scolding adherence to a 130-foot limit is annoying, unnecessary and, possibly dangerous. We all went into deco once or twice, but felt compelled to hide the fact, so that we wouldn't be punished by not being allowed to dive for 24 hours. I'd also like to suggest once and for all that divemasters everywhere learn how annoying it is to be spoken to in singsong. Solmar V allows divers to dive at will, a far cry from Peter Hughes' military "dive bell." On days when mantas were "in the house," I would surface, change film, get a fresh tank and jump right back in. On the last day, I made 7 dives with a group of mantas that stayed with us for 8 hours! Perfect weather permitted us to anchor at The Boiler, the famed manta cleaning station. Series of sea mounts rising from 150 feet to just a yard from the surface host the full spectrum of Pacific sea life. A gazillion lobsters inhabit every crevice; stonefish and peacock flounder elude; filefish, grouper, surgeons, and brilliant clarion angels sway in the surge, and three dozen enormous mantas that display the most unusual behavior. My hands were raw from stroking these congenial creatures. Spent a half hour playing with an equally amused 25-foot whale shark. How much better can diving get? Visibility at most sites averaged 50-100 feet, water temperatures averaged 76F. At Roca Partido-an overnight cruise of about 90 miles-surge and currents did not let us fully explore the area. Hooked up with a pod of 20 dolphins that swam around and through us for quite sometime. Viz not great, however, we enjoyed the company of many, many silkys, Galapagos, white tip and the as yet officially unrecognized Socorro shark. Among these rocks live many octopus, lobster, huge stonefish, giant hogfish, doormat-sized peacock flounder, morays-green, spotted, striped and jewel-and a vast array of healthy reef fish. Colonies of crown-of-thorns and several varieties of sea urchin kept us at bay. Even here, mantas soared with six-foot wahoo and clouds of schooling bigeye jacks. Some of the most exciting meetings with the rarest of all creatures; the crew accommodated us at every turn-nothing was a problem; the operation was seamless and transparent; weather and sea conditions were nearly perfect, and the price was right.

Solmar V, Charles Stearns, February 1998, Lilburn, GA. Mantas at the Boiler are up to 21 feet and delight in coming up close and personal. Used my 13mm lens and kept the field filled! Viz as low as 35 feet. Ten foot rollers on the 24 hour ride from Cabo to Socorro Islands. Take wrist bands and Antivert if you are susceptible to motion sickness. Several days we were unable to dive locations because of high waves and winds to 35 knots! Lots of humpbacks on the surface. Other special marine life includes lesser electric rays, lots of green moray eels (had four in my view finder at once), clarion angels (a cleaner for the mantas), and zebra eels. Crew took us to an enclosed aquarium filled with clear water and juveniles of everything. Clarion angel juveniles with natural light are fantastic on film. There were white and red nudibranchs. Food: some love it and others pan it. If you don't love Mexican food three times a day, you will be on a diet! The cabin space is extremely limited. Floor space in the best cabins is less than one square yard. Storage space is limited also. Pack your normal live aboard stuff and leave half of it at home. Crew was great. In water humpback singing so intense that your entire body including your lungs vibrates! Water 78-79 degrees.

Solmar V, April 1998, Ellen G. Jacobson, Littleton, CO. Your April review was unfair to the crew who worked their butts off. AC-we had a choice compared to the freezing cold of the Aggressors. Bathrooms were small, but beat standing in line with your legs crossed waiting for a community toilet. Unlimited hot water. Our trip was worse than yours! Never got near the Boiler and had only one manta who spent time with each diver. Whale songs underwater were magnificent. Vis: 2-50 feet, water: 78 degrees. 12 of the 19 divers (No one felt overcrowded) came from Switzerland with not one whiner in the bunch even on the last day when the pumice from the volcano turned the water to skim milk. Beginners shouldn't even consider this trip and seasick pills are an absolute must. Watch the shark feed from the porthole of suite 4401, it will knock your socks off. Dive operation safe and efficient. Crew especially the Zodiac drivers were obliging and helpful. I liked the Zodiacs and the boarding ladders. Dive platform and boarding ladders on the big boat were the best I've seen.

Solmar V, August 1998, Donna & John Zumbado, Gaithersburg, MD. Cut glass, polished brass, the stern ladder, panga ladders, camera table with compressed air, and larger cabins make the Solmar V a great diving platform. Longitudinal stabilizers make it stable. Crew added to the experience, especially three divemaster/instructors and the panga captains. Food is four stars, especially the good Mexican lunches, and the snacks. Desserts are improving, though Snicker bars were served a couple of times. They did not serve fish. Water 78 degrees F at 80 ft., to 82 degrees above that thermocline. Vis 50-80 ft. Landscape is similar to Cocos or Malpelo islands, the most common coral being orange buttercup. Nudibranchs to hammerheads: angel shark; schools of pufferfish, jacks, skipjack tuna, soldierfish; coronetfish; Sea of Cortez angelfish. Buzzed by bull sea lions marking their territory, who were mating and playing.

Solmar V, August 1998, Shane & John Phillis, Southfield, MI. Water 78-86, vis 20-70. No E-6. Initial dives at Roca Carpintero, Isla Cerralvo for intro local species: angels, surgeonfish, sea horses, starfish and morays. Overnight journey to El Bajo seamount for scalloped hammerheads, tuna, a whale shark. Diving led by divemasters, with pangas following on surface. Isla Las Animas, sea lion colony: exciting shallow dives with male and female animals. Gorda Banks: unbelievable numbers of fish: huge schools of bait fish, schools of hammerheads and tuna and feeding amberjacks. Accommodations very good with a shower/toilet recess in each cabin. Lounge attractive and functional, meals good. Crew (7) courteous and helpful. Divemasters Scott, Alberto and Antonio were expert at finding hammerheads. Adequate space on the dive deck, sturdy exit ladder, and rapid refilling of tanks to 3000 psi. Pangas equipped with ladders for easy reboarding after a dive. Exciting and different dive experience.

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